Automatic railway-gate



J. KISS AND J. R. MCGEE. AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE. APPLICATIQN FILED JULY12, I920.

Patented Oct. 26, 1920.

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AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE. APPLICATION map 1uLY12, 192o.

Pdtented Oct 26,1920.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH KISS AND JAMES R. McGEE, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY-GATE.

T all whom it may concern Be it. known that we, JosErH Kiss and JAMES R.MCGEE, both citizens of the United States, and residents of Milwaukee,in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certainnew and use- 1 ful Improvements in {Xutomatic Railway- Gates; and we dohereby declare that the I following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof.

Our invention relates to railway gates for use at highway crossings andthe like, and particularly to that type of gates which are electricallyoperated to.close and open upon the approach and departure of a trainfrom the crossing.

' In cities and towns, the buildings and other objects upon the streetsand roads which cross a car line, often make it difficult for drivers ofvehicles and pedestrians to see an approaching car until they are nearlyupon it. Then it is frequently impos- It is also the purpose of ourinvention to correlated as to reduce the possibility of deprovide a gatefor this purpose, so arranged and constructed that one portion of thegate will close in advance of'the other, thus giving warning andallowing an exit for the vehicles or pedestrians caught between the twogates.

providea gate of the class described which will be entirely automatic inoperation and wherein the parts will be so arranged and rangement to avery smalldegree and enable ready access to the mechanism for thepurposes of cleaning and repairing.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a crossing showing our inventioninstalled,

Fig. 2 1s a SIdGGlG/VELUOII of the gate showing in section its operatingmeans,

F1. 3 1s a-dia ram'matic view of.a crossa D b o ing over atrack and theelectr cal connections from said track to the crossing gate.

Referring to the drawings in detail and to Fig. 2 particularly, it willbe seen that each gate is composed of two sections A and B,

, Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed. July 12, 1920.Serial No. 395,517.

Patented Oct. 26, 1920.

the same being constructed in 'a lazy tong fashion, the arms at one endof each section being'secured to movable means within the posts 0arranged on each side of the street or road. The free or adjacent endsof the gate sections WilLbe supported and held by suitable guidescarried by the posts D placed in the "center of the street.

v If desired, the posts D may have arranged in their upperends-suitableelectric signals, for instance, a red light, the circuit of which iscompleted when one or both sections of the gate are closed.

The posts a are cylindrical and hollow in form and made of anyconvenient material, preferably metal. They are provided with verticalextending slots through which the arms of the gate section pass and ifdesired, there may be outwardly projecting flanges around the slotsserving as protective means for the gate sections when closed.

Arranged within the posts a we circuit closing elements which areoperate by the ,fingers of movable means therein for a purpose to bedescribedhereinafter.

These posts are placed or secured upon boxes or like receptaclesarranged beneath the surface of the street or ground in which theoperating elements for the gate sections are placed. These boxes arearranged in pairs and those comprising a pair are connected by a driveshaft 1, which passes through a protective tubing arranged between theboxes and transversely of the street or road.

The shaft 1 has keyed thereto the worm gear 2, which meshes with a worm3 carried by the driving shaft of an electric motor E placed in one ofthe boxes.

The post 0 has rotatably mounted therein the vertically extending shaft4 provided with'right and left handed thread portions which receivethreaded sleeves 5 and 6. to which the arms of the gate sections aresecured. The shaft 4 extends through the bottom, of the post 0 and hassecured to its end portion thebevel gear 7 which meshes with similargears 8 and 9 loosely mounted on the drive shaft.

Keyed to the shaft 1 and slidably mounted thereon is a clutch member 10having an operating lever 11 pivotally mounted to the box and held in aneutral position by springs connected thereto. The clutch lever 11 iscontrolled by electro-magnets within the boxes which are energized bycircuit closing elements which will be more fully described hereinafter.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that when themotor Eis started the shaft 1 will rotate and through the medium of theclutches and the gears 7, 8 and 9, theshafts 4 will be caused to rotatewhich 3 position of the clutches.

Referring now to Fig. 3 in which we have shown. a diagrammatic view ofthe electrical connections from the track to the gates, and assumingthat a car or train is passing in the direction indicated by the, arrowM, the trip actuating means carried by the car or train will firstengage the switch 15 which is placed a suificient distance from thecrossing to insure the closing of the gates before the train reachessame.

hen this switch is closed, the circuit formed by the wires 16 and 17,including the battery F, is completed, thus, energizing theelectro-magnet 18 and throwing the switch 19 vconnecting the wires 20and 21 with the battery circuit. When this. has happened the motor E isenergized and the shaft 1 starts to rotate. At the same "time, theelectro-magnet 22 is energized, due to the fact that the switch 23 'isclosed, which will close or open the ates, according to'the v throws theclutch 10 into engagement with the gear 8, thus causing the rotation ofthe magnets 22 shaft 4, which closes the gate section A.

After the gate section A has closed and the sleeve 5 has reached acertain height the switch 23 is opened and the switch 24 .closed,thereby breaking the circuit of the electro-magnet 22 and completing thecircuit including the electro-magnet 25, causing the clutch 10 of thesection B to be moved into engagement with thegear 8 and the saidsection to be closed.

'When the section B closes and as the sleeve 5 moves upwardy the switch26 is closed and the switch 27 is opened, thereby breaking the circuitand deenergizing the electroand 25 allowing the clutches to return totheir neutral positions. A It will beunderstood that the operating meanscarried by the car or train is of such character that, the switch 15,and the like,'ar-

ranged adjaceiit the track will be held closed for a certain perioduntil the have closed or opened.

When the gate section A' has closed and the train reaches the switch 28the circuit controlled thereby will be completed, thus short-circuitingthe battery -F' and-insuring a positive cessation of operation.

As the caror train passes beyond the crossing the operating meanscarried there by causes the switch 29 to close, which -controls thecircuit, including the battery G.

As this circuit is operation of one sections, and by referring to thedrawings,

. leading from gate sections "for cl other closed the electroniagnet 30i energized, causing'the switch 31 m be" train when it is opened themanner set forth intion. As the at the time and in the abovedescripsleeve 5 moves downward the fingers carried thereby opens theswitch 26,

thus bringing at rest and in an opened posi tion the gate sections A andB.

switch 27 is closed i and remains so until the approach ofanother Fromthe foregoing description,it will be 1 apparent that we have onlydescribed the gate, composed/ of its two it will be seen that we haveshown-wires the several switches, operated by the train,-to the positionof the second gate on the other side of the track. The

operation of the second gate is identical and simultaneous with thealready described.

A] by the passing of a car or train in.the direction indicated by thearrow N is the same as that for a train passing in the direction of thearrow .M, and for convenience, we have numbered these switches the sameas the others. H

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a railway gate of the character described composedof two sections and means for closing one section in advance of theother and opening both sections simultaneously.

2. The combination of a railway gate of the character described composedof two sections and means for closing one section prior to the initialclosing movement of the other section and opening both sectionssimultaneously.

3. The combination of a railway gate of section which we have thecharacter described com osed of two 4. A railway gate of' the'chara cterdescribed composed of two sections and haying electrically operatedmeans for closing one section prior to the other. and opening bothsections simultaneously,

A" railway gate of the character described composed of two sections andhavingelectrically operated means common to both osing one. section inadvance of the and. opening both sections simultaneously.

6. A railway gate of the character deso, the operation of.thegatesc'aused v scribed composed of two sections anjdhaving' electricallyoperated means controlled by a passing train for closing one section inad Vance of the other and opening both sections simultaneously. U

7. railway gate of the character described composed oi two sections andhaving automatic electrica 1y controlled means for closing one sectionprior to the other, and means controlled by the first said section forcontrolling the closing movement of the other section.

8. A railway gate of the character described composed of two sectionsand having means forclosing bot said means consisting of an electricmotor, a shaft driven by we have hereunto set our hands at Milwaukee, inthe county of Milwaukee and State of Wlsconsin.

JOSEPH KISS. JAMES R. MOGEE.

